A Face Among the Crowd
by mimiapple2224
Summary: Mary Calamité has been having trouble at school lately since her parent's mysterious death. When she meets a man who seems to have no humanity at all, can she delve into his dark past and bring him into the light? No Face, a spirit from the Spirit World, comes to life as a human in the modern world of people where he has to find his way down the twisting path of personification.
1. Hope

**Hey y'all! So like I hinted in my previous Spirited Away fanfic (please go read!) that I was gonna write one about No Face because well… he's just so freaking awesome. In my mind he is male, so deal with it. Most of my upcoming/current fanfics are intermingled, but you don't have to read the others to figure this one out. But you should go read them… Anyway. Don't hate me, but I don't update frequently because exams and finals are coming up so I'm pretty busy. But this is dedicated to KisaTiger12 and WhiteTiger246 for always reading my other fanfic and being such great supporters (**_**A Second Chance to be Saved**_** will be updated shortly). Thanks for reading!**

I picked my head up from the cold, hard desk that was unforgivingly not my pillow. Lately, I've been falling asleep in a lot of my classes. Probably attributed to the nightmares I keep having that cause restless sleep.

My physics teacher kept droning on and on; a never ending stream of unrelenting equations that we were supposed to memorize for tomorrow's quiz. Yeah right, like that was going to happen. Mary Calamité (that's me) hates physics. Like, I hate it with a passion of burning fire and hell's inferno.

I let my eyes droop back down and fell into a light sleep, evoking the power of a dream.

_I was sitting ramrod straight in bed, listening to the footsteps on the stairs. The passed my door and kept heading on down the hall, eventually reaching my parent's room. _

_I heard their door squeak open, and the crash of something heavy hitting the wood floor. My hands began to shake as I slowly stood up from my seated position and edged my way towards my own entrance; terrified of what I might see. _

_I saw a flickering light come from their bedroom, which I rushed towards in record time. The door was already swinging on its hinges._

_There, on the floor lay my father with opened eyes and an outstretched palm reaching for my lifeless mother. Nothing moved in the deathly quiet room except for the breeze coming in through the window._

_Hoping to figure out who did this, I stepped over my father's body and ran to the window. Peering out, I noticed a misshapen figure trotting towards the tree line. _

_It was large, so grotesquely large it reached the second floor of my house. It was oozing brown earth onto the ground. Rocks lay in between its misshapen shoulders and for eyes there were only sunken in wholes. _

_It vanished into the night air, taking with it the life from my parents._

I awoke to the clanging of the bell, signifying the day's end.

I stretched out and frowned at my misfortune, realizing what had just come to pass in my nightmare had truly happened to my family little over three months ago.

Yes, my parents were slaughtered by "people unknown" in the dead of night just a month before my junior year of high school started.

As I walked away from my not so comfy desk, I waved goodbye to Lea and John the local lovebirds, whispering near the door. I sighed as I recall Lea's best friend leaving school suddenly last month.

I might not have been best friends with Chihiro, but she was always a great person to study with before tests.

I slowed my pace as I made head way to my locker, fighting the oncoming traffic of students pounding to get out of school on a Friday. I sighed as I slipped the rest of my books into my bag, full to the brim with awaiting homework.

I could see my best friend's bright red hair walking (because it stood out in the crowd among brunettes and blondes) towards me but I was in no mood to talk so I just took off down the halls. Lavi was the book warm of the school, constantly reading like his life depended on it. Other than his red hair, he always covered up one of his eyes with something… like his disheveled hair, an eye patch (he's crazy, I know), or glasses.

I continued my path down the walk of school and into the front yard. I had no car because with my parents death most of the money went towards my future and the not the present. So I was stuck with walking.

Instead of just heading home like my initial plan, I stopped at the local smoothie shop. I sat there alone reading a manga titled _D. Gray-Man_ but soon finished my drink and decided to head home where an empty house lay.

I continued down the road, avoiding cracks as I sang the old children's rhyme "If you step on a crack, you break your mother's back. If you step on a line, you break your father's spine." But I had no worry of this ever coming true again.

All of a sudden a car came out of the fog, careening into me since I hadn't paid attention and stepped into the road to avoid another line.

But just before I was swirled into a Mary Smoothie, warm hands enveloped my waist and pulled me to safety.

I gasped as I fell into the man holding me. His arms and chest were just _so strong and manly_. Oh my gosh, what am I thinking? This guy just saved me!

"Thank you so much!" I whirled around to face my hero. Staring back at me were the darkest, saddest eyes I had ever seen. He had to bend down to peer at me though; he had to be over 6'5 at least.

His black hair covered his forehead and reached the back of his neck, curling slightly at the ends. He was lean and muscular; the perfect body type for a man. But he couldn't be older than 18.

"Just helping out," and with that he turned his back to me and walked away, leaving me at the side of the road.

But before he left I noticed a glimmer in his eyes that wasn't there before. Something like hope.

**QUIZ: Did y'all notice a character (one of my favorite's) from another anime? If you did say so in the review. Should I create a fanfic about that said character in modern times? Free air hugs to everyone who knows what character I'm referring to that isn't from **_**Spirited Away**_**. I gave three hints about the character, and even went as far as talking about the name of something important to that anime. **


	2. Revenge

**Thanks for continuing with the story! Hope you like what I imagined **

I couldn't just let him walk away. I mean, who was this guy? Plus he was super delicious and I'm single at the moment. Most likely single for life with cats, but you know, a girl can hope.

But even as I thought this, he was already disappearing into the fog in which he came, obscuring my vision of him.

I had to let him go because it would be a little creepy if I followed him. So I turned back to my destination and headed home. Treading back home was scary because it was quickly getting dark, my adrenaline was already running from the car incident, and I couldn't get my parent's final moment out of my head.

I finally reached the doorstep of the little building I called home. It was a stout house that was crumbling a bit around the edges and the windowpanes rusted a little. Even though it was rundown, this is where I held all my memories of family and laughter. But now that they were gone, it was dark and empty.

I was supposed to be watched over from my uncle, but he was a depressed alcoholic who didn't really care about his little niece. So here I was, sticking the key into the lock of a dreary house all alone.

I walked up the stairs to my room and collapsed onto the bed. I rolled over and plugged in my iPhone, listening to Ke$ha's "Past Lives". The heavy beat vibrated inside my head as I drifted off into a well-deserved nap from the fright I had had earlier from the near death experience.

When I awoke the sun was completely gone along with my tiredness. I heard a clanging come from the downstairs so I jumped out of bed, thinking back to that frightful night where my parents had been killed.

Stupid! I forgot to lock the front door when I came running up the stairs to welcome sleep. How could I forget that when I live all alone?

Instead of doing the rational thing and jump out the window with a phone in hand already dialing the police, I flew down the stairs grabbing a shoe that was overturned by my bedside.

I wanted to see who (or what) it was and hope it was the thing that had ended my parents' lives. I wanted to face their killer. Even though I couldn't really defend myself, that thought never came to mind because I needed revenge.

I rounded the corner into my kitchen and there it stood; the dirty behemoth of a monster.

He turned his soulless eyes towards me and I screamed, dropping the pointless shoe I had grabbed to protect myself with. He was larger than I remember, stooping low as to not knock his head on the ceiling.

I took a step away from him, intending to back up, but I tripped and fell hard on my bum. He towered over me glaring down at his new pray.

He bent down to lower his fist upon my skull, but he was stopped with a groan. The beast spun around to face whoever had hit him and swung his giant arm.

But it was stopped by a double edged katana. He held two of the swords, my savoir from the almost car accident standing in my own kitchen. Blood was dripping from the katana, splashing onto the tiles of my floors.

For the second time today, he saved me from imminent death.

Battling the demon thing, my hero gracefully lunged and ducked the clumsy attacks of the monster. Dirt and blood splattered everywhere, covering the counter tops and floor.

I could tell that the man had a wound inflected on his abdomen; he started to slow down a bit. But finally he won out, slaughtering the beast where he lay on the floor bleeding out.

The man stood up and stretched his hands above his head, placing the swords into their sheaths. He looked up at me, finally noticing that I was standing there staring at him. His eyes got even bigger when he realized it was the girl he had saved earlier that same day.

I was shaking in the corner, wondering what to do and still scared of what had just taken place. My arms were wrapped around my body, trying to keep in the warmth that was escaping from my flimsy nightdress. The short, pink silky nightdress I was wearing barely covered me up to the thighs, leaving me chilly from the open door.

My heart was racing as the man stepped towards me into the light. I could see the wound on his chest, bleeding into his dark v-neck t-shirt. But through his shirt I could also see the well-muscled abs and lean body.

"You again," he states bluntly, leaving an awkward silence in the interim. I couldn't think of anything to say so I just nodded. "Are you okay?" He looks at me awaiting an answer. I nodded again because frankly, his appearance frightened me.

He was tall, dark, and handsome; just like every girl's dream. But you could tell he was also dangerous, judging by the monster he just slayed. But I felt bad for him, seeing his gaping wound.

"Yes, but you're not," I intoned as I grabbed a first aid kit from underneath the sink. I opened it up and brought out the gauze, Neosporin, and hydrogen peroxide. "What's your name?" I asked him as I motioned for him lean against the table.

He lifted his shirt over his head, revealing mouthwatering abs and the deep cut. "Rien."

**Don't worry; everything will be explained in due time, it all fits like a jigsaw puzzle. Everything will come together **

**QUIZ: Why is Rien's name ironic… or is it? Figure out what it means and stuff about it, and tell me in the reviews! **


	3. Safe

**What would you do if the guy of your dreams saved you twice in one day, and now he's standing in your kitchen half naked? I know what I would do ;)**

"You're name's Rien? Like, is it the name Ryan?" I pondered at his odd name, wondering what it could be about.

"I guess, I didn't exactly choose it you know," He answered my question as I wiped away the blood on his chest with the hydrogen peroxide. "What about you, what's your name?"

"My name's Mary Calamité. I go to the high school not far from here. Thank you, so much. For everything. I owe you my life squared. The least I can do is patch you up," I said this as I finished wrapping the Neosporin slathered gauze around his middle; touching his rock hard abs in the process.

"It's just my job," He replied when he leaned away from the table, surveying the damage. He looked at the demon and I shivered. "I'm assuming you don't know what this is," he said pointing to the thing. I nodded, clearly at a loss for words and scared out of my wits.

"This is a spirit from the Spirit World," I give him another blank stare. "He'd gone astray and had the taste for human blood. Apparently he had marked this house as his own a while back. That's why he was here."

My mouth formed an O shape as I sat down on the chair near the table, trying my hardest not to look at the _spirit_. He probably marked the house when he killed my parents, not realizing that I live here too.

"I guess that makes sense," I said finally talking to Rien.

He looked up and asked "Why?"

I shrugged, not really knowing if I should answer. I mean he is a stranger, albeit a good looking one, but he did also save my life a couple times… "He-it-she-whatever killed my parents a few months back."

He just stared at me for a moment, "Sorry," was all he said and then he turned around to leave me once more.

"Wait! Where are you going? What did you mean it was your job t-to kill spirits? Aren't spirits already dead? This doesn't make sense. Why? What's going on? Don't leave me again. I-"

He interrupts me saying "You talk too much. And I'm going because I have work, which how you so aptly put it 'killing spirits', in a sense that humans would understand. Try not to tell others about this incident, just let their minds create up something like I'm sure they did for your parents' death."

"Please don't go. I-I'm scared," I don't know why I was saying this to a complete stranger, but I really didn't want him to go. I felt I had to get to know him better, to show him happiness. He seemed so sad and dreary all the time.

He just stared at me blankly, but nodded his head and headed towards my fridge. He opened it up and peered inside, rummaging around for food unknown. He settled for a left over pasta container from last night that I had made.

He sat down at the table without a fork. Even though he was stealing the food that I had made and slaved over, I wanted him to stay. So I took a fork out of the dishwasher and handed it to him.

Our fingers touched and I swear I felt a spark of electricity. He paused for a moment but then went on to eat, silently hunched over the bowl.

I sighed and headed to the cupboard, reaching for a mug. I brewed some tea for myself and poured a glass of water for Rien. He sat there eating happily, and I was glad he liked my cooking.

Even though he was a blunt person who did what he wanted (no matter whose home he was in) he was still a kind person. He saved me two times, when he really didn't have to.

The tea was warm and filling, traveling down my throat and making me tired. I guess almost dying twice in one day was really tiring.

The next thing I know I'm being slightly jostled and carried up the stairs. I could feel the heat coming off Rien's body as he held me up the stairs.

I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep. But now I was being carried into my bedroom and softly placed onto my bed. I felt the covers being drawn up around me and then felt a tug as Rien leaned away.

But I grabbed his hand and lightly pulled on it. I was too tired to say that I wanted him to stay, but he got the message. He sat down next to me. I felt the bed dip from his body and heard his jeans being shucked to the ground.

He laid down next to me; keeping me warm and safe from any other oncoming spirits.

Finally, since my parents' attack, I felt protected and safe; attributed to Rien sleeping beside me.

**Woah! Would you guys let a hot stranger sleep in your bed? Even if he is your hero. :P **


	4. Picture Perfect

**HELLO beautiful readers **** I'm super sorry I haven't been updating but I've been preparing for exams, summer internships, vacations, and packing up my dorm room. Sooooo… I hope you like this and don't forget to review, favorite, and look at my other (non-completed) Spirited Away fanfic! I also just put out a *very* short story about the anime Bleach. **

Yawing from a deep sleep, I rolled over and nearly fell off my bed. Damn! Rien must've left because when I'd fallen asleep his arms had been around me, preventing me from falling off the edge.

I jumped out of bed, bed head and all, and ran down the stairs.

Yep, he was gone.

The front door shut and locked, the silverware and tuber ware from last night's meal placed neatly in the sink, and no dead spirit body to be found.

I sighed and sat on the counter. Opening up a pack of chocolate muffins, I surveyed the only thing left that signified Rien had been here; the first aid kit. It was still sitting open on the table with missing bandages and gauze.

Whatever; if the man was going to be that rude and just leave, than I would forget about him and his so called 'job' of hunting spirits. Anyway, I have a lot of homework.

After showering and changing for the day, I decided to go out to the park and take photos. One of my favorite passions is taking pictures of anything I can find that will fit inside the zoom shot.

I walked over to the park bench, the sunshine hitting my back and the rays beaming off my sunglasses. I sat there, staring at all the children playing with their mothers and the fathers throwing Frisbees with their sons.

Dogs barked, children laughed, birds chirped, and adults talked. I smiled at the boisterousness of it all, but saw no opportune pictures waiting to be taken.

So I got up and walked off to the wooded area near the exit. I took pictures of the birds, flower petals, and bumblebees. I kept walking on and on; not really paying attention to where I was going.

I ended up at the entrance of an old tunnel with a little statue in the middle of the walkway. I snapped a picture of the statue and decided to walk through the tunnel and see what was on the other side.

It was dark and dreary, but not that long. I kept walking and eventually ended up on the other side.

It was a beautiful meadow with rolling hills of tall grass and a dry river bed curving through it. There were empty shacks strewn in the meadow, but farther down, after the river bed, there was a whole host of buildings.

They were beautifully run down, just ripe for the photography. I jogged up to the rocky river bed so I could snap some photos of the old houses. I hopped over the craggy rocks and skipped past the little pebbles.

I started strolling down the empty streets of the little village I had found. This was perfect! I could spend endless hours here taking pictures with no one to disturb me. There were beautiful opportunities with empty chairs and lightless lamps.

Before I knew it the light was fading and the cicadas were coming out to sing. So I started walking off towards the direction I had come because you couldn't take pictures without light and I had forgotten my flash.

I finally reached the rocks in the riverbed as the last streak of sunlight faded from the sky, but as soon as I took three steps over the pebbles, I was ankle deep in water.

Frantically I looked around and noticed the water was quickly rising, now up to my waist and wetting my hair.

I couldn't make it to the other side, it looked miles and miles away. As fast as I could I heaved my wet, cold body onto the earth surrounding the riverbank. Shaking, quivering, and scared I lay on the dirt trying to catch my breath.

What the hell was that?

Gasping for breath I sat up and looked around me, taking in the ghastly sights. Everything was alit with lanterns of various colors. Boathouses and cruise ships surfed the water where music could be heard coming out of. The "village" was now alive wi-with monsters?

No. Rien had talked about spirits… could this be?

I sat there for a while taking it all in, my camera resting my lap. So I took this moment to take some pictures, capture the beauty of it all. But eventually my joints cramped up and I knew I needed to get up. So I walked over to the side, out of view from the spirits. Hoping I wouldn't be spotted, I traversed a back path that led to what looked like a large factory's kitchen quarters. No, it was actually a bath house.

I peered into the windows and noticed the weirdness. There were frogs as cooks, and spirits as maids. This was all so unimaginable.

I crouched down below the window and in the brush. I felt hot tears drip from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. They splashed onto my knees. My maxi dress was clinging to my body and I was cold. My hair was sopping wet and my makeup was running. I was lost. I knew no one. I was scared.

**QUIZ: what's your favorite type of camera? Techniques? Lighting? Do you guys like sepia or black & white? Lemme know! *obviously I love photography ***** **


End file.
